1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to group decision making in social networks, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for determining a group preference in a social network from a plurality of individual preferences of members of the social network weighted by importance of the individual to the network and, optionally, the importance of the network to the individual.
2. Background Art
With the advent of electronic communication, the study of group behavior among humans is becoming more advanced. When human-to-human communication was primarily word of mouth, the study of the communication patterns and trends was difficult. Today, however, people frequently communicate electronically. Common forms of electronic communication include telephone calls, e-mail correspondence, text messaging, instant messenger communication, facsimile communication, and so forth. While communication is sometimes done on a one-off basis, most communication occurs between groups of friends, family members, or co-workers. This “group communication” has given rise to the study of social networks.
A “social network” is commonly referred to as a social structure having a group of people, or members, that are linked together by one or more common links. These links may include friendship interdependency, familial ties, employment status, financial interdependency, common likes, common dislikes, attendee commonality at public gatherings, and so forth. Social scientists have begun to study social networks analytically to determine, for example, how information is shared or how members of a group tend to act. Social scientist J. A. Barnes helped to pioneer the study of interdependency patterns that transect traditional groups, such as families or tribes.
The members of a social network are generally referred to as “nodes.” Each node is linked to another by a relationship or communication channel, often called a “tie.” While nodes are the participants, ties are the channels through and by which information is shared. When studying social networks analytically, scientists often map the members by drawing lines representing ties between each member. Data can be gathered from such maps. By way of example, a particular member's social relevance may be determined by the number of ties he has with other nodes in the network.
One problem associated with social networks is that many social networks consist of interconnected peer nodes, and there is generally no hierarchical structure for centralized communication. The members of social networks communicate with other nodes. However, there is generally no central node that acts as a leader. This can be problematic in the decision making process. If, for example, delegates for a convention gather in a meeting hall, each delegate will know some others, but chances are no delegate knows everyone in the hall. Imagine that the delegates need to collectively determine what to eat for dinner. Where each node talks only to nodes to which they are linked, a chaotic communication process ensues with no central decision being made.
There is thus a need for a method and apparatus for determining a group preference in a social network.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.